Day 2 on the Indian Pacific...

(Please see post under the Back in a while...post for Day 1 on the IP)

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Monday 15/2

Oh, we did not sleep well! We are very tired today.

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My view out the window, clicketty clack, clicketty clack!

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This is the Nullabor Plain, dry arid and not much to see!

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This is where my phone said we were at 8.30am...

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It was Valentines Day on Sunday, we gave each other cards...

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This breakfast certainly hit the spot...

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We were to have a half hour stopover at Cook, a very remote town, now basically a ghost town.  There are 4 residents - the hospital has been bulldozed, the school shut down, the general store closed.  

Now, here's a story for you.  My blogger friend,Tania  http://outbacktania.blogspot.com.au/ 

messaged me to say her freight train driver hubby, Phil, would be in Cook when we pulled in for a stop.  I rang him and he was there to meet us.  We first met Tania and Phil in September 2014 when we did our Flinders Ranges trip. :)

He kindly drove us around in his 4WD and showed us each building, mostly all derelict now.  There are new quarters for the train drivers to rest and relax in.

Then Phil said "Now I'm going to take you to see someone who knows you." .... what? Who could we possibly know, out of 4 people living in Cook?

It turned out to be a guy, Steve, who used to live in our town and I knew him through my sisters when they used to attend hunts (with horses) and Gus knew him as he had a mechanical business.  Small world (phew, I only just recognised him!)...

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A big thanks to Phil for touring us around.  Other people on the train wondered why we got the royal treatment, lol!

All too soon it was time to get back on board and choof off down the line.  Phil wasn't heading back to Adelaide until the evening.

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Time to eat again!

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The dining car...

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We met a nice couple from the Southern Highlands, NSW - John and Lynne so we had dinner with them both nights. We chatted away about all sorts of things...

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Lamb loin...

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My delicious chicken, so very good!

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Yummy Lamington dessert...cake on top and a chewy, gooey chocolate on the bottom...

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The landscape is starting to change as we get nearer to South Australia...

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Oh, dear - dinner! More food!  This is a goats cheese soufflé - yummy, of course.

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Mullet entrée...

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Vegetarian lasagne with lentils, delicious!

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Pork roast...

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That's all the pics I took that day. Again, we had to put our clocks forward another 1.5 hours to align with SA time.  We headed to bed for an early night to see if we could get any sleep.  As it turned out, we did sleep better. We were up at 6am, showered, packed up and ready to disembark at 7.30am into Adelaide.

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All the staff did a magnificent job.  The staff are the same ones who wake you in the morning with a cup of coffee in your cabin then say goodnight to you as you leave the lounge car after dinner.  Big long days for them, making sure every passenger is happy and comfortable.  We certainly had nothing to complain about at all.
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We taxied to our girl's place, I did loads of washing to repack for our next bit of adventure over on the Yorke Peninsular.

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Cheers - Joolz xx